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View Full Version : Problems with spontaneous shut-down

Digitalpilgrim
May 5th, 2007, 07:38 AM
Hey all,

My wife's PC (which runs windows XP) seems to be randomly shutting off. There are no messages or anything, nothing to say "system is shutting down for X reason" or "Windows update required a restart." It is seemingly random, where it will just shut off in the middle of working. Any ideas or any questions I could answer to help get it to stop doing this?

Thanks,
Tom
Amos_Moses
May 5th, 2007, 10:05 AM
Could be a dirty CPU causing it to get hot, or maybe even a bad fan.
That's where I would start....
BloodoftheLamb
May 5th, 2007, 12:38 PM
Check the event viewer for any clues also.

Power supply could be on its way out also...

Overheating due to dust bunnies is always first on the list.

Clean a pc at LEAST twice a year, using a can of compressed air, a brush and a vac.


:thumbup
Digitalpilgrim
May 5th, 2007, 01:33 PM
What do you mean by event viewer?
Kung
May 5th, 2007, 06:37 PM
Start --> Run, type

eventvwr

If it's just shutting down with no warning, I echo what others said, especially if there's nothing in the Event Viewer logs that talks bout 'minidump' files or such.
TaliaKirana
May 6th, 2007, 02:45 AM
Well, this is just my random opinion, but it sounds a lot like the nasty virus that was hitting XP systems a couple of years ago. (*remembers getting it herself, though doesn't recall the name*) Maybe the OP hasn't fully patched XP and got it?
Kung
May 6th, 2007, 08:42 PM
You're thinking of the Sasser virus; and I don't think this is it, because when the Sasser virus hit, it ALWAYS gave an error message that said that NT/Authority was shutting down your system in 60 seconds. She's not getting that.
wife
May 6th, 2007, 09:00 PM
It's windows way of getting you to buy vista....:heh

I vote for the dust. My laptop was doing that and a good cleaning cured it
Digitalpilgrim
May 7th, 2007, 08:07 PM
Thanks for the responses, all. Getting rid of the dust (which there was a lot of) seemed to make the computer like new (I was amazed at how much smoother it was running after that).

Thanks again,
Tom
wife
May 7th, 2007, 08:57 PM
Thanks for the responses, all. Getting rid of the dust (which there was a lot of) seemed to make the computer like new (I was amazed at how much smoother it was running after that).

Thanks again,
Tom

http://www.comicguide.net/images/smilies/klatsch.gif I am glad it all worked out the easy way